Festival Golden Stag Summer Ale Review

[louis macneice]

Put one on last Thursday completely untweaked; makes for a very quick 'brew day'.

Will let you know how it turns out - Louis MacNeice

 

[louis macneice]

Put this into a pressure barrell yesterday (first time using a PB). It was reasonably clear going in and it tatsed great, so now it's 2 weeks indoors and two weeks in the shed then a proper taste.

Cheers - Louis MacNeice

 

[Rompy]

Just bottled some of this the other day and the colour and aroma is great. Looking forward to drinking.

 

[Oceano80]

Just taken a reading and was 1009 so will take another one tomorrow but the smell was so good i had to take a sip and it tasted great. Cant wait to try in a few weeks time. This is one of the best kits i have had.

 

[Maffa]

Halfway through drinking my second batch of this and just had to go out and buy another one. This is perfect for summer drinking.

I've also bought a large tin of golden syrup which will also be in the mix this time. Looking to up the % closer to 5%

 

[owensjl]

Hi - I did this klit, and added all the hops that were with the kit 5 days into the ferment. For me, the resultant beer was far too hoppy.

 

[pms67]

Hi - I did this klit, and added all the hops that were with the kit 5 days into the ferment. For me, the resultant beer was far too hoppy.

Have to kind of agree with you there even though now I am a hophead.

When I did the IPA I only added a percentage of the hop pellets and it turned out very good.
Pellets are stronger than leaf hops in my opinion and amounts should be reduced accordingly.

At least it means you can use the leftovers to beef up a basic kit !!!:thumb:

 

[Oceano80]

Ok so I hAve had this in bottles for only 4 days but has already cleared. Going to leave it in the warm for a few more before moving somewhere cold but could not hold back and opened a bottle and wow it is the best kit i have ever done. If this improves with age then its not going to last long :-D

 

[reddibaggie]

Fermented at 22 degrees for 2 weeks, added all of the hops at 10 days, it came out fantastic. The nicest kit beer I've ever brewed. In fact better than any ale I've had on pump in pubs for as long as i can remember. So good I've bought all of them at my lhbs.

 

[Burgo]

Started this kit off last night 29/11/14 with the usual catalogue of minor disasters when will this get easier?? Brewed short to 20L and added 450g of golden syrup, 500g of honey and 30g of East Kent Golding pellets in a bag (can't resist experimenting), this gave me an OG of 1.060 whch should give me +6ABV :twisted: I prefer to spend less time going to the loo. 12 hourse later my (S shaped) airlock is bubbling almost continuously at 22*C :thumb:
Will probably leave 2 weeks to ferment then add the supplied hops for another week and then bottle (and partially keg if I don't have enough bottles). By then my Razorback IPA should be almost ready :smile:
2 kits left in the store before I have to order more; Woodfordes, Nelsons Revenge & St Peters‚ Ruby Red Ale. There could be more hops involved ;-)

 

[Burgo]

After fermenting for 2 weeks I was still getting bubbles a couple of times a minute! Gravity was 1,013. The temp had cooled a little & was falling below 18°C so moved it to a warmer place (20°C) and it went crazy again for 24 hours (ok, glugging 4 times a minute) and gravity dropped to 1,010 (giving 6.5% ABV!!!). Will bottle in a few more days if SG stays the same. Looks a beautiful golden blond colour and tastes promising :party:

 

[NIN]

Mine is fermenting since mid November and it's still bubbling (very rarely though)! Gravity stopped at 1.011 so I'll be bottling it shortly.
The colour and smell are amazing but it's unbelievably bitter. Hope it has nothing to do with the lengthy primary fermentation (and lower temperature in the kitchen where the FV stands)

 

[sausagefingers]

I've only done a few kits but I enjoyed the Summer Ale so much that I put another batch on and bottled it last week. It was incredibly cloudy and I thought for sure that I'd done something wrong but less than a week in a warm spare bedroom and it's crystal clear already.I'll be putting it in the cool garage in the next few days and can't wait to get stuck into it but I know from the last batch that the longer I can keep my grubby mitts off it the better it will taste.It really does make a fantastic pint.
That does sound like a very long time to ferment NIN but I don't think it will do it any harm. My first batch tasted rank awful and I was going to pour it all away, it was that bad but the guy in the local homebrew shop told me to put it somewhere warm for a week then store it somewhere cool before putting it in the fridge and it got better every week.Don't panic just give it time once bottled then come back in a few weeks and tell us how nice it tastes :

 

[sausagefingers]

well not sure how it happened but just found six 500ml bottles of this from my first batch! Must have bottled them over 2 months ago and it tastes amazing, what a pint. I'm afraid I have no idea of the ABV but bloody hell it tastes strong, a nice fruity pint and definitely one to do again. I'm not into really hoppy tastes so only used half the hops provided and it is spot on for me.
Can't recomend it highly enough :drink:

 

[Efcmk]

Hi everyone I'm new to the homebrew world. I've just purchased one of these kits and is only my second batch of homebrew. Just a quick question for you guys, I only have one fermentation bucket. In the instructions it states to transfer to a second bucket and add the priming sugar and then to siphon off into bottles. Can I add the sugar to the primary fermentation bucket and then siphon off into bottles? Sorry if this is a stupid question

 

[clibit]

It needs to be well stirred in to ensure even distribution and this would drag yeast up so not a good idea. You could add sugar to each bottle though, it works out about 2.5g per bottle. Which is a level teaspoon. If you have a medicine spoon with a 2.5ml spoon use that. Add the sugar before the beer, a sterilised dry funnel is good.

 

[Efcmk]

Ok brilliant thanks

 

[Beerlover]

Added the hops yesterday to my Golden Stag which was day 9 in the FV, hoping to transfer to a PB on Sunday depending on the hydrometer reading.

 

[Efcmk]

Just started this kit off. Starting gravity of 1.040 which I think is normal?? Really looking forward to seeing how this turns out. Smells amazing. My first attempt at home brewing was coopers real ale. Don't like the taste really, it has a strange aftertaste but that might of been down to a mistake at some point in the process. Reading the reviews of this kit on here I can't wait to taste it

 

[Beerlover]

Well I just transferred my Golden Stag into my PB, the hydrometer was reading 1010 down from 1042, I did find that it took bloody ages to siphon, not sure if it was because of the filter bag or my poor technique?! I had a quick taste and it was very grapefruity and had a pretty bitter aftertaste which seems the norm reading the other reviews, looking forward to trying it properly in a few weeks time....